The Enchantment
by fallinrain
Summary: If there was one thing Kelsi Nielson had learned in her life so far it was this: fairytales never come true. Or do they? A Ryan/Kelsi story with some Greek/Roman mythology thrown in. A/U.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer for the entire story: I own nothing.**

**Dedicated to ambinlovewlove who won that little contest I had going in my Christmas story. She gave me the plot and an idea of what she was looking for it and now I'm taking all of that and going with it. :-)**

**A/N: Yeah, so I have a full story load without adding this story, but I'm adding it anyway. Inspiration for the others as been lacking and this one has been pressing on my mind a lot lately. But rest assured, if you read any of my other stories: LP, LN, Backbone or TYS, I have not given up on any of them. They all will be updated as soon as I find the inspiration and motivation to write for them. Still hoping to finish Backbone up really soon, if possible. But enough about that. This story is going to be a little different from all of the others. Ambinlovewlove has an interest in Greek/Roman mythology and this story is basically a Ryan/Kelsi version of the myth of Eros and Psyche. This is one of those stories where you just gotta go along with it. I'm treating this like a Ryelsi fairytale and things should get interesting. I'll go into a little more detail about the mythology side of this in the next chapter (not yet written), but for now I wanted to focus on our heroine. This is a really short chapter for me, but it felt like the right place to end it. Hopefully leaving you wanting more. ;-) Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this! Let me know what ya think.**

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Life sucks and then you die.

It was a phrase that Kelsi Nielson had heard several times throughout her life. Life sucks and then you die. It had never been a phrase she'd ever really agreed with. After all, her life had been good once upon a time. She'd had wonderful parents who'd loved her and her two older sisters with everything they had. They hadn't been the richest family around, not by a long shot, but what they'd lacked in financial resources, they'd made up for with love. Kelsi couldn't have asked for greater parents. Her father, Henry, had been a high school English teacher. He'd been a quiet and gentle man with a love for reading and teaching and had been one of the most popular teachers at the high school where he worked. But as wonderful a teacher as he'd been, he'd been an even more wonderful husband and father. Family had been the most important thing to Henry Nielson and he'd never let a day go by without making sure that all of his girls, as he'd called them, knew how much he loved them. Kelsi had simply adored her father, believing him to be the best man she'd ever known.

Of course if you'd ever said something along those lines to Henry, he'd laugh and say that behind every great man was an even greater woman. He'd consistently credited his wife, Carolyn, with making him the man that he was – of course, if you'd ask her _her _opinion on the subject, she'd insist that he'd been a perfectly fine man to begin with. Kelsi's parents had had a kind of love that seemed so rare these days, one that was honest and true and seemingly unconditional. The love they'd had for each other was the kind of love that Kelsi had always dreamed she'd find her herself someday. It was what she'd wished for the most growing up and it was also her mother's prayer for her and each of her sisters.

A sad smile spread across Kelsi's face at the thought of her mother, who had easily been the best woman she'd ever known. Carolyn Nielson had been a piano teacher with an incredible love for music. She'd listened to pretty much every type of music there was, or at least it'd always seemed that way. She'd had an infectious laugh and had made the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies that'd always win first place at the county fair. A naturally gifted baker, the Nielson home had always been filled with the mouth-watering smells of whatever she'd been baking that day, whether it be her award winning cookies or one of her famous pies or cakes. She'd been a generous woman, a loving woman who cared more about other people than herself. Carolyn Nielson had been the most selfless person Kelsi had ever known, and the most beautiful. She'd truly been the center of their family and so they'd all been horrified when she'd been diagnosed with leukemia when Kelsi was a sophomore in high school. The doctors had treated the cancer aggressively, but it had continued to spread and spread fast. Carolyn Nielson had died exactly one year after her diagnosis.

It had been four years since her mother had passed away and there wasn't a day that went by without Kelsi missing her so much that it she could barely stand it. Sometimes the pain would only last for a little while and other times it would last all day. Carolyn's death had been a huge blow to the family, one that Kelsi didn't think they'd ever recover from. Her two sisters, Lauren and Melissa, had separated themselves from Kelsi and Henry after Carolyn had died for reasons that Kelsi and Henry couldn't figure out. At first, Kelsi had missed talking to her sisters and had spent a lot of time wondering what could have possessed them to turn their backs on the rest of their family. Of course, that initial hurt she'd felt had soon melted away and been replaced with anger. Anger because their separation had caused their father to not only have to deal with the loss of his wife, but the loss of two of his daughters. Kelsi had devoted herself to taking care of her father, knowing it's what her mother would have wanted.

For the past three years, Kelsi and her father had been a team. He'd encouraged her to fulfill her dream to attend the Julliard School in New York City to study music and she'd in turn urged him to move to the city as well, leaving behind everything they'd both known in their hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. She'd thought it'd be good for him to make a fresh start in a new place and he'd agreed, moving to an apartment building on the outer edge of the city. For a while it had seemed as if life had slowly been getting back to normal, but that hadn't lasted too long. Her father had been killed by a drunk driver just under a year ago. He'd been on his way to Kelsi's apartment for dinner when the car ran the red light and plowed directly into the cab he'd been riding in.

Kelsi had lived in a fog for months after her father had been killed, just going through the motions. She'd lost the two most important people in her life before she'd turned twenty-one years old. She was legally an adult who was now old enough to drink, but she may as well have been six considering how she felt. She was an orphan, pure and simple, and had lost the only two people who'd ever really loved her. As angry as she'd been with her sisters after the death of their mother, she'd been hoping that they would all pull together after the death of their father, but that hadn't been the case. Neither Lauren nor Melissa seemed to have much concern for their baby sister. Sure, they'd come out for their father's funeral, but neither one of them had bothered to ask how Kelsi was doing.

Kelsi supposed that she shouldn't have been so surprised. She'd never been all that close to her sisters, though she could never figure out why that was. Maybe it was because she'd been so much closer to their parents than either one of them had been or maybe it was because Kelsi had inherited their mother's talent for playing the piano while neither of her sisters had. Or maybe it wasn't Kelsi's talent they were jealous of, but her beauty. Whereas Lauren and Melissa were pretty average looking, Kelsi was downright beautiful. A naturally tenderhearted person like her mother had been, Kelsi was beautiful on both the inside and out. A fact that had resulted in Kelsi being pursued by members of the opposite sex ever since she was about fifteen years old which had been a constant source of irritation for both her sisters and herself. Kelsi had learned early on that the guys that chased her only seemed to be interested in her for her beauty, not caring about whom she was as a person. She would've traded all the attention in the world for one guy who would like her for _her_.

Kelsi scowled as she flopped onto her couch, her mind going from thoughts of her parents and sisters to her original thought upon returning to her apartment for the evening. Life sucks and then you die. Yeah, up until her mother died, Kelsi'd had no reason to find any truth in that saying. Her childhood had been wonderful, after all. She'd begun to find truth in that expression after her mother had passed away, but it had never rung more true for her than it did right now. In fact, the saying ran so close to home at the moment that if she had to pick any one quote to sum up her thoughts on life, it would be that one.

She was twenty-one years old and both her parents were dead. She had two sisters who couldn't care less about her. She tended to be a pretty shy and quiet person – much like how her father had been – so her friends were few and far between. And as much as she dreamed about finding a love that was honest and true like her parents had had, it didn't seem like a dream that was going to be coming true anytime soon. She'd thought she was getting close in the past couple of months while she'd been dating a guy named Jeremy Sullivan. He'd seemed sweet and kind and Kelsi had really thought that he'd cared about her. But as she'd just found out about an hour ago, she'd been wrong. She'd been on her way home from work and was about to call Jeremy when she got a text message from him. She'd chuckled when she saw his name popped up, amused that they'd been thinking about each other at the same time, though her amusement had quickly turned to shock when she realized that he'd messaged her not to say hi but to end their relationship.

She'd just been dumped and he hadn't even had the courtesy to do it in person. Hadn't been bothered to pick up the phone and call her for that matter, choosing instead to be a coward and send her a text message. A _text_ message! Kelsi had just been dumped via a text message. It was a fact that she hadn't quite been able to wrap her mind around. She'd called him back and been annoyed when it'd gone straight to voicemail. One angry voicemail later and she'd hung up, calling him on his apartment phone two minutes later. Of course, that had proved to be a mistake, she'd soon realized as she'd been delivered the second blow of the night, the first obviously being Jeremy breaking up with her. She'd almost expected him not to pick up and he hadn't…but another woman had.

Life sucks and then you die.

Kelsi swiped a hand at her wet cheeks angrily, furious with herself for beginning to break down and knowing that there wasn't anything she could do about it. Nothing, that is, except give in to the tears that were quickly building in strength and speed. Her life was pathetic and getting worse all the time. Kelsi grabbed a pillow and hugged it to her chest as facts about her life rushed through her mind over and over again, as if they were stuck on repeat. She was an orphan at twenty-one with sisters who didn't care about her and a now ex-boyfriend who'd just broken up with her through a text message. She had a job she absolutely hated and no friends she could think of to call that'd be willing to listen to her crying and carrying on.

Life sucks and then you die.

Yes, that statement had never been truer for Kelsi Nielson than it was at that very moment. She lay down on the couch and curled into a ball, still clutching the pillow as she continued to cry. Her world as she'd known it was crumbling all around her and seemed to be getting sadder and darker with each second that past. As she wept, she couldn't help but wonder why she didn't just throw in the towel and give up already. What was the point in living a life that was so full of sorrow and pain? Kelsi gripped the pillow tighter as her tears began falling even faster, crying not only for the end of her relationship but also in mourning for her parents, who she was suddenly missing so much that it physically hurt. She could practically feel pieces of her heart ripping away and shattering into a million pieces as everything she was feeling came to a head and boiled over, making her feel as if the pain and tears would never stop flowing.

But thankfully for Kelsi, the tears did eventually stop pouring down her face and she slowly wore herself out. It took a lot of energy to cry what seemed like a small river of tears, after all, and with every minute that passed she became more and more exhausted until she had cried herself to sleep. As she slept she began to dream of a place that she'd dreamt about a few times before. It was a place that she'd only ever seen in her dreams, a place that felt worlds away from her home in New York City, and a place that seemed like it came directly out of a fairytale. She dreamed of a castle nestled on the edge of a lusciously green field that was peppered with beautiful flowers of all colors. A bubbling brook ran alongside the castle with trees positioned sporadically on either side of it. Kelsi's dream began like so many of the others had with her standing on the edge of the brook and letting the cool water flow over her bare feet. She took a deep breath, taking a moment to appreciate how crisp and clean the air was. Crisp and clean and scented with the gentle fragrance of the nearby flowers.

She had no idea where this place was supposed to be, but there was something about it that made her feel alive. It was as if she had dreamed her way into a wonderful land of magic and possibilities. She turned away from the brook and headed towards the castle, startled as she always was in her dreams by the entrance doors opening up for her, almost as if on their own accord. She stepped inside and was engulfed by a feeling of love and safety, a feeling that she had only ever felt in the happy days of her childhood. The smile came to her face naturally as she reveled in the fact that this charming castle in this magical dreamland was apparently her home. She let out a soft gasp as she felt something slide onto the ring finger of her left hand. Her eyes widened as she glanced down and saw the beautiful diamond ring on her finger, a ring that felt strangely like it belonged there.

A whooshing sound coming from somewhere behind her caught her attention and she spun around to find, of all things, an arrow resting on the floor by her feet. Curious, she bent down to pick it up, wincing when she accidentally pricked her finger in the process. The pain was minor and short-lived and she was astonished to find that the wondrous feeling of love and safety she'd experienced upon entering the castle suddenly seemed to have increased tenfold. A faint smile appeared on Kelsi's face as she slept, knowing that in her dream she was safe and desperately in love with a man who she hadn't yet seen, but somehow knew that he loved her just as much as she loved him. Kelsi cuddled her pillow a little closer as she let herself get lost in the dream that she'd dreamt who knew how many times before. A dream she'd had even while she was a little girl, a dream that had turned into her wish and her mother's prayer for her as she grew up.

If she had been awake, this may have been the point where her faint smile dissolved into a scowl. It was a beautiful dream, but at the end of the day it was just a dream. Just a dream about a magical place that only existed in her imagination, a dream about a love she longed for but didn't believe that she'd ever find in the real world. In so many ways this dream, this wonderful and glorious dream was also one of the cruelest because there was no way that it would ever come true. Kelsi would never live in a gorgeous castle on the edge of a beautiful field and she would never experience that intoxicating feeling of love and safety that she felt in her dream. She could dream all she wanted, but her dream would never become reality because the things she dreamed about were the things of fairytales. And if there was one thing she'd learned in her life so far it was this: fairytales never come true.

Or did they?

For Kelsi, the obvious answer to that question would be an emphatic 'no'. Her life certainly seemed to be enough proof of that as far as she was concerned. Fairytales were nothing more than made up stories about magical faraway places designed to entertain or teach children important lessons. They were pure and absolute fiction with no basis whatsoever in reality…or at least that's what people were led to believe.

But what Kelsi and the rest of the mortal world didn't know was that the world in which they lived was _not_ the only world that existed. There was another one, a world that few mortals ever got a chance to see. A world where fairytales were more than stories or legends, a world full of magic and wonder and a beauty beyond anything anyone in the mortal world could comprehend. A world where the creatures and beings of so-called mortal myths were real. What Kelsi didn't know, and what she would soon find out, was that the world in which she lived and that other world were about to collide. And once that happened, life as she knew it would never be the same.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So this chapter is pretty short and I'm not entirely happy with the last little part, but I've been trying to get back into the groove of writing. It hasn't been easy. Please believe me when I say that I'm doing my best. Real life has been interferring with my writing big time lately and that has to come first. I'm still sort of setting things up in this chapter. I think I said it before the last chapter, but this is a story you just have to sort of go along with. Remember that it's a Ryelsi fairytale based on a myth. I don't feel like I wrote this to the standard I was going for, but I hope you enjoy reading it anyway. Let me know. :)**

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The sun had long since fallen in New York City and most of the city residents had gone to bed. Kelsi Nielson hadn't moved from her couch, still lost in her dream about a wonderful place that she knew wasn't real. Or, to be more precise, a place that she _believed_ wasn't real. But as was often the case with mortals, the things in which they believed were not necessarily the truth. Not only was the mortal world _not_ the only world that existed, the place that Kelsi dreamed about was in fact a real place. A place that existed in that other world that Kelsi had yet to find out about. A place that was full of the gods and goddesses of the myths, a place by the name of Mount Olympus.

Oh sure, if you tried to tell a mortal that, they'd probably either laugh or roll their eyes, maybe wonder if you'd hit your head recently. You might get a lecture about how yes; there was an actual place that existed by that name, but there were hardly any gods or goddesses running around it. It was just a place; a beautiful place immersed in history and culture, to be certain, but still, just a place. They would be both correct and incorrect in that belief. Yes, of course there was a Mount Olympus in the mortal world, but what most mortals didn't know was that there was _another_ Mount Olympus that existed outside of the world in which they lived. The mortal Mount Olympus was kind of a replica of the real thing. In that world, the myths and legends were just that: myths and legends. But in the other Mount Olympus, the _true _Mount Olympus, those same myths and legends were real.

If only mortals knew just how true the ancient myths were. The gods and goddesses students learned about in school were not just characters in a school book, but genuine, living and breathing beings. A lot of the things people learned about them were in fact true, but there were so many other things about them that the mortals knew nothing about. Like their names. The names found in the Greek and Roman myths were simply names that the mortal world had assigned them, names that they even acknowledged and accepted. If you were to come across one of the gods or goddesses and called them by one of those names, they would respond to them. Some of them even preferred their Greek or Roman name to their real one, thinking that the names in the myths were much more interesting than the names they'd been given.

That was especially true for a certain goddess known in the mortal world as either Aphrodite or Venus, depending on whichever one preferred. She loved both of those names; thought herself worthy of both of those names. There was something about them that seemed to highlight just how important she was and she was certainly very important – both in her world and the mortal one. She was the goddess of love and her given name was not Aphrodite or Venus; it was Sharpay. She had a sort of love and hate relationship with her name. On one hand, she liked the uniqueness of it, but on the other hand, she couldn't help wishing that her name had been a little more epic – closer to the ones that the mortals had assigned her. But oh well. Sharpay had more important things to worry about than her name, like…herself.

Sharpay was many different things and vain was right near the top of the list. She was beautiful and she knew it – and made certain that everyone else knew it as well. She prided herself on being the most beautiful goddess in her world and loved knowing how many women in the mortal world longed to look like her. She was used to having men fawn all over her and was at her most content when she was the center of attention. A bit of a moody being, she tended to get a little jealous whenever the attention was focused on someone else – particularly if the other person happened to be a mortal. She could tolerate being ignored in favor of another god or goddess, even if just barely. But to be overlooked by a mortal was simply unacceptable. She was prone to hissy fits and being ignored in favor of a lesser being was just the sort of thing to send her over the top.

Which was why the god Troy was so looking forward to finding her and sharing what he had recently found out. Troy, or Hermes as the mortal world knew him, got a kick out of watching Sharpay go into one of her fits and often found himself looking for ways to set one off. This was where being the messenger god between the two worlds came in handy. All of the gods and goddesses could venture into the mortal world, but no one did it as often as he did. It helped that he was one of the few gods who could actually speak to the mortals – most of the gods and goddesses were only comfortable observing them, occasionally butting into their affairs from afar, but never speaking to them directly. Troy happened to love all the conversations he had with mortals. Conversations provided him with information and he was all about information. It was extremely valuable, as was knowing exactly what was going on in the mortal world. He enjoyed watching the mortals go about their lives; enjoyed it more so when they provided him with some juicy tidbit or another to share with his fellow gods.

He had been traveling around the mortal world for about a week, drifting from place to place before ending up in New York City. Among his favorite cities in the mortal world, he found himself going there fairly often and it wasn't unusual for him to return with one or more items of interest to one or more of the gods and goddesses back at home. This particular trip had started off as being pretty uneventful, but then he had arrived at the Julliard campus. It was there that he first learned of a beautiful young mortal by the name of Kelsi Nielsen. He had been walking across the campus, disguised as one of the students, when he'd passed a group of guys talking and heard her name. Intrigued enough to stop nearby and listen, Troy was fascinated to learn that all of the guys believed this Kelsi person to be one of the most beautiful girls any of them had ever seen. He immediately set about tracking this girl down and had been pleased to see that she was just as beautiful as he'd overheard.

Seeking an opportunity to send Sharpay into another one of her hissy fits, Troy had spent a couple of days tracking the girl and paying attention to the way other mortals responded to her. It soon became clear that there were quite a number of young men completely smitten with her. It was obvious to understand why they would be. There seemed to be a sort of innocence about her, a certain something that made her stand out among the other young women on the campus. It soon became apparent to Troy that this girl was just as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, her inner beauty serving to make her physical beauty all the more prominent. He'd headed back to the world of the gods with a smirk on his face, fully intent on hunting Sharpay down immediately before doing anything else.

He'd found her in the flower garden located just outside of the palace in which she lived. She was surrounded by her usual band of admirers and was relishing in their attention from the looks of it. Troy felt his smirk deepen as he made his way over to her. "Hello all," he said brightly, greeting the group as a whole, though he kept his gaze on Sharpay's face.

"Well, well, well," she began, a perfectly shaped eyebrow lifting as she studied him, instantly suspicious. "I thought you were out cavorting with the mortals," she said, her nose wrinkling ever so slightly in disdain.

"Oh I was," he confirmed, lightly pushing his way closer to her.

"And how are the mere mortals doing?" she asked, her voice tinged with sarcasm. Sharpay had always had a bit of an attitude where Troy was concerned, no doubt because she knew how much he enjoyed getting on her nerves.

"The mortals are doing very well. I have some news for you," he informed her. "I came across a group of young men talking about a young woman."

"And this is news?" she inquired, slowly growing impatient with him.

"They were talking about how beautiful this young lady was," he continued. "They all seemed quite smitten with her, so I decided to investigate."

"And?" she pressed.

"And I do believe that that young woman may be one of the most beautiful mortals I've ever seen," Troy answered.

"Oh?" Sharpay asked and Troy was pleased to watch a wave of irritation wash over her face.

"Oh yes. She was just lovely. Bright blue eyes, beautiful smile, nice hair," he went on. "Gorgeous girl. She must be the most beautiful girl on her campus, if not the most beautiful girl in the city."

"Hmm," she grumbled, looking more displeased by the second.

"And it's not just how she looks either. She's just as lovely on the inside, if not more so. The combination is rather irresistible. In fact…" Troy pursed his lips. "I daresay that she just might be more beautiful that you."

"More beautiful than…" she sputtered, her face slowly turning an interesting shade of pink as her displeasure gave way to anger. "More beautiful than me?" She narrowed her eyes at Troy. "More beautiful than me! That's impossible!"

"Oh, it's possible, babe," he retorted. "Very possible."

"There is no way that a stupid, lowly _mortal_ is more beautiful than me," she muttered. "I'm Sharpay! I'm the goddess of love here!"

"And hey, you're gorgeous," he said lightly. "But ya know, you're the most beautiful goddess in our world and she's the most beautiful girl in hers. No biggie."

"No biggie," she repeated. "No biggie! This is entirely unacceptable! I can't have this, I won't have it! I have to do something," she growled, amusing Troy by beginning to pace around him, growing more furious by the second. "You!" she snapped, jabbing a finger at him. "You will take me to her so I can see her for myself." She scoffed. "More beautiful than me. Impossible. Come on!"

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"What'd I tell you?" Troy asked, his smirk returning as he watched Sharpay study Kelsi. He had let her rant and rave for a while longer, somehow managing to get more worked up with every second that had passed. In terms of Sharpay hissy fits, this one had ranked high. So high that Troy had found himself agreeing to take her to see Kelsi, knowing that the sight of the girl would send Sharpay over the edge once more. It hadn't taken long for Troy to track Kelsi down again, having found her apartment during his initial trip. He'd managed to sneak them into her apartment where they'd found Kelsi curled up on her sofa fast asleep. "She's beautiful, isn't she? It's no wonder all the guys here love her. And this is nothing. You should see her when she's awake."

"This is unacceptable," Sharpay grumbled. "She doesn't deserve to have men fawn all over her like they do me."

"Oh come on Sharpay, they're mortals. Why do you care? What, you don't have enough admirers back at home? Let her have hers," he urged, suddenly finding himself growing slightly concerned at the look in her eyes. He'd expected Sharpay to be irritated, but he hadn't expected her reaction to be so extreme. She looked beyond furious, as if she was capable of inflicting some real harm on the poor mortal girl.

"Unacceptable. I could tolerate a couple of men pining after her, but all of the men on the campus? Absolutely not. I need to do something about this," Sharpay declared.

"I don't know if it's _all_ the men. That may have been an exaggeration," he tried.

"Oh no," she shook her head. "She's beautiful. Too beautiful. Men probably fall all over themselves trying to get her attention." Sharpay's eyes narrowed. "Attention that should be given to _me_."

"Mortals don't know about you, Sharpay. Well…they know the stories, but they don't know that you're real. You've never gotten attention from them and you never will, unless you plan on moving here permanently." Troy's face lit up. "Though you know, that idea does have merit."

"Ha," she rolled her eyes. "Silly boy with your silly winged shoes," she said, cutting her gaze to the shoes in question. "It doesn't matter that they don't know I'm real. What matters is that fact that this girl, this pathetic, little mortal girl, is getting the same kind of attention that I get and, as I said, that is unacceptable. I need to do something."

"Like what?" he asked, his expression growing wary as he watched a smirk appear on her face.

"Like tracking down the most sleazy, disgusting, horrible man on campus and shooting her with an arrow so that she falls hopelessly in love with him," she replied, her smirk deepening.

"Oh come on, Sharpay, she doesn't deserve that," he tried.

"She's getting attention worthy of the gods," Sharpay said simply. "She deserves worse. She's lucky that this is all I'm going to do to her. Now come on. It looks like I need to have a little chat with my brother." She shot Kelsi one more look of disdain and led the way out of the apartment.

"I think I might have made a mistake," Troy sighed, pausing to watch as Kelsi turned in her sleep. He lightly touched her forehead. "I'm sorry."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yeah, so it's been a long time since I've updated. A very, very long time. I'm so so sorry that it's taken so long for me to update. Without going into details, I've been going through a lot for the past several months and it'd been forever since I'd felt the urge to write anything. Maybe it's been so long that no one cares anymore, but I'm making a commitment to finish all of the stories I have going. Please feel free to bug me about updating - as long as it's done in a nice way. ;) I'm really going to make an effort to start getting out chapters. Again, I'm so sorry it's taken so long. You're all about to see who exactly Ryan is in this, if you haven't figured it out already. It's tough working with myths - on one hand I want them to seem like the beings they represent, but I have to figure out a way to make them work in the context of this story. I feel like I've taken some liberties with Ryan's myth counter-part, but hopefully it works. This is the way I felt it had to go, though I warn you, aside from the first part, there's not much dialogue. There'll be a lot more happening in the next chapter, I just had to set some things up here. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know!**

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"You want me to do what?" Sharpay couldn't help laughing at the look on her brother's face.

"Oh come on, Ry, it's not like you haven't meddled in anyone's love life before," she replied. "It's only what you do."

"Hmm." Her brother studied her for a long moment. "I'm supposed to use my powers for good, remember?"

"Oh please," Sharpay rolled her eyes. "We're gods, Ry; we can do whatever we want."

"This mortal girl has done nothing to do," Ryan pointed out, ignoring her last comment. "She's just a regular girl living her life. So the guys at her school like her; what's the big deal? The mortal world is full of beautiful women, you know this. What, would you like me to spend all of my time making all of them fall in love with the worst men in the world?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Sharpay scoffed. "That would be insane."

"It would," he agreed, studying her briefly before continuing. "Why is this girl so important to you? She hasn't done anything to harm you."

"Men fawn over her, Ryan. It's disgusting and wrong. It must be stopped." Sharpay paused, giving her brother the sweetest smile she could muster. "Please Ryan; just do this one thing for me. I don't ask for much."

"You don't?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"It's been a while," she said quickly. "And I would really appreciate it. Please? She's just a silly mortal girl. Please Ryan?" She paused. "Look, it doesn't have to be anyone dangerous. It doesn't have to be a drug dealer or anyone like that if it makes you feel better."

Ryan let out a huff before responding. "Not dangerous, but horrible."

"Horrible, sleazy and gross," she nodded.

"But not dangerous," he repeated.

"No. Come on Ryan, please. Do this for me," she urged. "Don't make me beg."

"Ha! The great Aphrodite beg? Do you even know how?" he asked.

"It's never come to that. I would hate for it to come to that now. I'm saying please. I never say please."

"True," he acknowledged. "You don't." A beat. "Fine. I'll do it. But don't expect me to do it for you again. This is a one-time deal," he said sternly. "I'm only doing it because you said please," he added.

"Now there's a good Cupid," she said brightly, patting him on the head.

"Need I remind you that I am your brother, a god myself?" He reached up and pulled her hand off his head. "Not your dog. And I'm doing you a favor here."

"You're right, I'm sorry." She smirked. "Now see, Ry, first I say please and now I'm apologizing."

"Will wonders never cease." He returned her smirk with one of his own. "Would it be too much to believe that a 'thank you' might be in there somewhere too? You know, a token of appreciation for the god who is about to ruin the life of a poor mortal for you? Just saying."

"Thank you, Ryan," she said, albeit a little begrudgingly.

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" he asked cheerfully. "Now, if you'll excuse me, looks like I'm off to New York."

"Goodbye Ryan. Good luck finding someone terrible," she said in response, waving at him as he left. "Hope you find him soon." A new smirk appeared on her face as he disappeared from view. "Make that little mortal pay."

* * *

Ryan wandered the Juilliard campus, working his way over to the building that housed the practice rooms. He had spent the last couple of days in New York City, searching out the most horrible men he could find. A part of him still couldn't believe he'd agreed to his sister's insane request. Sure, as the god of love he meddled with the lives of mortals on a regular basis. And yes, there were times when he was careless with his arrows, making the wrong people fall in love. Sometimes it was due to sheer laziness on his part; an unwillingness to do any research on the people he was shooting, sometimes just firing off at will. Sometimes he did it knowing that the people in question didn't belong together. He could usually tell. Being the god of love, or Cupid as the mortals knew him, he had developed a talent, one could say, for knowing who should be together and who should not. Sometimes the reasons were obvious; other times they were more subtle, but he could always tell. Not to say that always cared. No, there were definitely times when he shot people knowing full well that the relationship didn't have a snowball's chance of surviving.

But still…with all of that being true, this request was different. While he had been careless with people's love lives before, he couldn't recall a time when he'd singled out someone like this without ever seeing them. His decisions on what to do always came after seeing people, sometimes even tracking them for a while. Because while it was true that he didn't always care what happened to them, sometimes he did. There were mortals who for whatever reason had endeared themselves to him and so he took great care with them. Either taking the time to find the right person for them and then making them fall in love. Or using one of his repulsion arrows to make them stay away from people he knew were bad for them. Yes, sometimes he cared.

So the thought of sentencing this poor mortal he had never seen to a relationship with someone horrible just didn't set right with him. He would do it because he'd told his sister he would, but still. Something about this entire situation made him uncomfortable. Maybe there was some sort of loophole to be found. Like finding a man who seemed terrible, but wasn't all that bad at heart. Or maybe it could be a man who was unfortunate to look at, but actually a nice guy. His sister was the vainest being he'd ever come across; if there was one thing she couldn't stand it was physical ugliness. She could tolerate an unpleasant or awful personality if it came wrapped up in a beautiful package, but would turn away the nicest and most wonderful being in existence if she didn't find them pleasing to look at. Being sentenced to love something ugly would be considered a huge punishment in her opinion. So maybe that was his loophole. Find someone Sharpay would find repulsive physically, but who had a good heart so the poor mortal girl could have a chance at happiness.

Ryan nodded, his decision made. But his search for the man in question would have to wait for now. His curiosity had gotten the best of him and he'd decided that he needed to find the mortal girl, this Kelsi, and see her for himself. He was amazed that he'd been able to wait as long as he'd had, but he could wait no longer. It was time to see the girl whose life he was about to change. In a strange way he felt like he'd seen her, based on the extremely long description Sharpay had given him when she'd made her request. He knew he'd know who she was the moment he laid eyes on her, but knowing what she looked like and seeing her in person were two different things. He'd gone to her apartment and thanks to some notes she'd scribbled on her calendar, he knew she'd be in one of the practice rooms practicing. He entered the building and began his search. Times like this it paid to be a god – their powers allowed them to be invisible if they so desired and he took full advantage of it. After all, walking around with a bow and a quiver full of arrows would look pretty suspicious.

Ryan slowly made his way down the hallway, peering into the practice rooms he passed along the way. Most of them were full and the level of talent from room to room varied. He winced at the sounds coming from a few of them, missed chords and notes that made him wonder what they were trying to play or sing. Some of the rooms were full of sounds that actually sounded like music, but there was nothing special. He paused as he reached the rooms at the end of the hall, hearing one of the most beautiful songs he'd ever heard being played on the piano. The music drew him to the room; the first time that'd happened during his walk down the hall. He'd listened to a lot of music in his time, more than he could even say, and he could never remember a piece affected him so strongly in so short a time. It'd been instantaneous, the music shooting straight into his soul and touching a deep part of him. What it was about the music, he couldn't say. It was so beautiful…beautiful and haunting at the same time and it was being played so well. A gifted musician, for certain. He peered into the room feeling his breath catch in his throat as he laid eyes on the person sitting at the piano.

It was Kelsi. He'd known he'd recognize her once he found her. Sharpay's description had been perfect. She was almost exactly the way he'd pictured her. The only difference was that while he'd expected her to be beautiful – that was what had ignited Sharpay's anger, after all – he hadn't expected her to be this beautiful. She'd taken his breath away and for a few moments he could only gape at her in a kind of awe. It was strange; he had his share of admirers and many of them were gorgeous, but none of them had ever captured his interest so thoroughly. There was just something about her that drew him to her, something that went beyond her physical beauty.

She sighed then, her hands stilling on the piano keys as she closed her eyes for a few moments before glancing upwards. "I miss you, Mom," she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. "And Dad." Ryan frowned as he watched her, knowing that he was intruding on a very personal moment. That knowledge almost made him want to give her some privacy, but he felt rooted to the place he stood. It was as if he was powerless to do anything but watch her and he was surprised to find that he had the overwhelming urge to comfort her. That urge was of course ridiculous. He was a god after all and it seemed impossible to believe that a mere mortal could make him feel that way. But there he stood.

Ryan felt his quiver begin to slip and hastily reached back to keep it from falling; for some reason he'd just slung it over his shoulder instead of securing it around his body like he usually did. "Ouch!" he hissed as his finger grazed something sharp. Surprised, he pulled his hand back and looked at his hand, frowning at the drops of blood on his finger. Kelsi temporarily forgotten, he yanked his quiver off his shoulder and looked at it, stunned to see the arrow head of one of his arrows nestled in between all of the other arrows. "What the…" he trailed off, shaking his head as he tried to figure out how that'd happened. He always put his arrows in arrow head first so how did one get flipped around?

His head snapped up as he heard Kelsi sniffle. A feeling of protectiveness unlike anything he had ever felt in his life welled up in him the second his eyes landed on her face. The feelings of love and affection weren't too far behind and by the time he'd realized what he'd just done it was too late. He had fallen head over heels in love with a mortal. He thought he'd understood how powerful his arrows were, but this was so much more intense than he'd thought possible. He reached into his quiver and pulled out the arrow he'd pricked his finger on. Unsurprisingly, it was one of his golden arrows, the ones he used to make people fall in love. It was funny. He was no stranger to love and relationships; he was the god of love after all. He had been with many goddesses in his long lifetime and had cared deeply for several of them, but he had never pricked himself with one of his golden arrows. A few of the goddesses had tried to convince him to do so, telling him that they were worthy of his love, but he had always resisted. He'd watched beings, mortal and immortal alike, do such foolish things in the name of love. He'd also seen the intense pain and suffering people when through when things didn't work out the way they'd wanted them to. He never wanted to fall in love; caring for people or sometimes just being in lust with them suited him just fine.

He'd lasted so long, lived so many years without having this happen to him. He was in love with a mortal, hopelessly so, and all because he'd accidentally pricked himself with his own arrow. It was laughable that things had happened this way, but he found himself devoid of any laughter. He'd thought he'd been putting off piercing himself with his arrows because he was happy with the way he'd been living, but he'd been wrong. The truth of the matter was that now that he had been struck by his own arrow, he was done. Other mortals and immortals could be struck by his arrows more than once, love multiple people throughout their lifetime, but it wasn't the same for him. He could love only one, he _would_ love only one; there was no other option for him. He'd had no idea of that fact up until this point but a fact it was. Ryan was in love with the mortal Kelsi Nielsen and he would be until the end of time.

The only question now was what was he going to do about it?


End file.
